Cops on Games duty, policing gets short shrift

The Commonwealth Games, now barely days away, seem to be impeding the Delhi Police from performing its real job — policing. In two separate instances, complainants have been told to wait till the end of the Games for their grievances to be redressed.

The Commonwealth Games, now barely days away, seem to be impeding the Delhi Police from performing its real job — policing. In two separate instances, complainants have been told to wait till the end of the Games for their grievances to be redressed.

In the first case, a 40-year-old businessman from Najafgarh was allegedly cheated of R97,000 by a fraudulent bank agent.

"A man posing as the agent from a private bank approached me on August 27 and offered me a loan of R25 lakh," said Rajkamal (who goes only by his first name), a medical equipments manufacturer.

Rajkamal was asked for official documents to legitimise the loan by the fraud salesman.

"He took photocopies of the ownership documents of my two factories and two cheques signed by me as proof. He later forged my signature and used the same cheques to withdraw R97,000," Rajkamal said.

On realising the fraud, Rajkamal went to the local police station to lodge a complaint. "They told me to wait till officers were done with the Games before they would register and investigate the case," he said.

In the second such incident, a senior doctor of a well-known hospital, harassed by recovery agents of a private bank for more than a fortnight, was told to grin and bear it till the police was ‘free' enough.

"A private bank's recovery agent started calling me several times a day, starting August 25, to enquire about a four-year-old credit card registered in my name but not being paid for," said Dr. Sunil Kumar, a senior consultant at the Medanta Medicity Hospital in Gurgaon. Kumar was harassed day in and out till August 30, after which he approached the Jagruk Nagrik Suraksha Sangathan (JNSS), an N.G.O., for help.

The JNSS was assured the complaint had been registered and that action would be taken. "Acting on the complaint, they gave me an officer's number and told me to get in touch with him, which I did. I provided the number from which I was receiving the calls and was assured they would stop in a couple of days," said Kumar.

When the calls didn't stop, Kumar contacted the officer again. "I called him several times, but in vain. Then I finally called his office on September 5 and was told to be patient till the end of the Games. They said the concerned officer was practicing for security duty during the event," Kumar said.

After HT enquired into the matter, Dr Sunil Kumar was assigned four senior investigating officers on Monday.

ACP (southwest) R.S Krishnia said Rajkamal's complaint would be looked into at the earliest.